00:00It is trading season in Major League Baseball, and for the Toronto Blue Jays, they have put
00:17themselves firmly in the buyer spot, thanks to a phenomenal run of excellent baseball that they
00:25have played, getting into first place in the American League East, now with their sights on
00:30the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros, so they can avoid that pesky wildcard round that has been
00:35such a problem for them in the last little bit. I do have a couple of other Blue Jay notes that I
00:41want to get to, but Deed's starting out with a very good question in the Twitch chat. With how the Jays
00:46are sitting, what do you chase at the trade deadline? And with Bo not signed, do you take a
00:50chance with trading Namala? I will say, I did a video looking at what the Blue Jays' top priorities
00:58should be going into this trade deadline period that they are in, so I went a little bit more
01:06in depth in that video there, but we can still talk about where the Blue Jays should be going.
01:13Um, I think there's a couple of ways that the Blue Jays can go here. I think the main focus needs to
01:21be the start, or not the starting rotation, but just pitchers in general. I think the bullpen is a
01:26massive, massive need for this team, and I think a very good top-of-the-line starting rotation would be
01:34the next place I would look. So I think you need another leverage reliever in the bullpen to make life a
01:41little bit easier, and take some of the immense workload that has been placed on these guys off
01:46of them, and see how you can kind of progress, um, with, you know, more than a couple of guys that
01:52you trust in that bullpen, and take some of the pressure off. But then I do think that starting
01:58pitching depth, at the very least, needs to be acquired by this ball club. I mean, you just saw
02:04it against the White Sox there, with Lauer looking at his hand, shaking his hand out, that could be a
02:09blister issue. Um, if he goes down, I genuinely don't know what they do, and I don't want to be
02:15going with bullpen games, as this team is chasing an American League East title. I think that's a
02:21very bad way of going about life. So I think you need some starting pitching depth, and I think you
02:26can, like, shoot high for a potential starting pitcher. I, I think that I am comfortable with
02:34Gosman, Barrios, and Bassett in a playoff series, but I'd be more comfortable if there was a real,
02:40like, stone-cold ace at the top of it. I love hearing some of the talk that maybe it is a Jake
02:45DeGrom that they might be focusing on. Um, we, we know this organization likes to go big game hunting.
02:50They miss a lot, but they like to go big game hunting when it comes to that. The other part of
02:54this question I do think is very interesting as well. With, um, with Bo not signed, do you take a
03:00chance with possibly trading Namala? Um, Arjun Namala, one of the top prospects in the Blue Jays
03:04system, and certainly the top prospect on, uh, of the position players. Um, I would have to be
03:11blown away by a trade. Like, I, I am not trading Namala for a leverage reliever. You know, like,
03:17this is, if you are doing that, then we are kind of talking about the upper echelon of starting
03:24pitchers. That is the only time I am considering it. I do think that, well, I think Namala,
03:30is going to be very, very good. I do think that the acquisitions that the Blue Jays made
03:36and kind of how they have set themselves up, put them in a spot where maybe there is already
03:42a little bit of Bo insurance. Um, trying to think of a pun there, none's coming, so we'll just move
03:50on. But I, I do think that there is already some insurance there. When they go out and acquire
03:55Andreas Jimenez from the Cleveland Guardians, there was a lot of talk that, okay, year one,
04:00this guy's going to be a second baseman, and he's one of the best defensive second baseman,
04:03maybe the best defensive second baseman in all of baseball. But he's going to be there,
04:08and then if something happens with Bo, either this team does not re-sign Vlad, or Bo is just like,
04:15nah, I'm not doing it, man. I'm out of here. A lot of talk was that you can move him to
04:21shortstop, and then you could still go with Clement at second, um, Jimenez at shortstop,
04:29with Barger, let's say, at third. It's not, oh my god, watch out Yankees type of an infield,
04:36but you can, you can get by on that. And then whatever money you are not spending on Bo,
04:40you can go out and try to make a big splash that way. And so, you already have a bit of
04:45Bo Bichette insurance there. So, Namala is not an untouchable for me. I'm not actively shopping
04:53him around, but if, like, if it's the difference between getting Paul Skeens or not, then yes,
04:59obviously. Um, and I know that's not where you are thinking. It would have to be an absolute game
05:04changer for this team. Like, I am not making a trade involving Namala, or Yosavage, uh, for,
05:11for that matter, without having it be a gigantic needle mover. Like, I, I have to look at a trade
05:20involving the top prospects for the Blue Jays, and I have to look at it and say, after this,
05:27can we win a World Series? And the answer has to be unequivocally yes, and it has to make us one of
05:34the favorites in the American League to do that. So, I would be very picky, but I would do it if,
05:40if the right thing came along. The DeGrom aspect of it is interesting. I don't, I would have
05:47concerns about trading for someone with that type of a, um, injury history and giving up the top
05:53prospects that the Blue Jays are going to need to. Now, I, I just said I am all there for an all-in
05:57type of a move, but I, I would much rather the Blue Jays flex the financial muscle of bringing him
06:03in than giving up a ton of, um, draft, or not draft capital, but prospect capital. I know they're
06:08going to have to give up some. I'm not saying that, hey, do you think they would do it for,
06:11um, just, uh, mile straw, just one for one? Obviously, they're going to have to give up
06:17quite a bit, and it's probably going to be maybe a little bit more than I would be comfortable with,
06:20but I, I would much rather the biggest part of it is, hey, the Blue Jays took on the whole contract
06:25than it is, um, oh my god, they just gave up five prospects. So, short answer is, I,
06:32I would take a chance, but it would have to be a very big return coming back in. No rentals
06:41and not for a bullpen arm. There isn't one bullpen arm in baseball that'd be worth trading any of those
06:46guys for. So, it's probably an ace starting pitcher, um, or an offensive piece that I'm not thinking of
06:52as one that could be available. Uh, but the Blue Jays might be getting an offensive piece back at some
06:58point, as Anthony Santander, uh, works his way back from injury, and I think it is an interesting
07:04conversation right now because of all the talk around George Springer, uh, who is basically doing
07:11what the Blue Jays wanted Anthony Santander to do when they went out and signed him to that contract
07:16in free agency. Springer is the reigning, uh, player of the week since Santander got hurt, and this is
07:23where I think it gets a little bit tricky how you can piece these together. Since Santander got hurt,
07:29Springer has played 22 games at DH, 9 games in the outfield. For reference, Santander this year has
07:3729 games at DH and 19 in the outfield. So, like I said, Springer is basically doing what we thought
07:44Santander was going to do with this ball club in terms of utilization and productivity. And the thing is,
07:51I don't think you can just say, okay, well, just go back to the way it was. Because since Springer
07:57started being the DH more, and I know that he is trying to do it as a professional hitter or something
08:02like that instead of designated hitter, but, um, since he has taken on this role, he has a 323 batting
08:09average with 10 home runs and 34 runs batted in. For reference, the 162 game pace on that is 323,
08:17that doesn't change. 48 home runs and 162 RBIs. That's absurd, that pace. A, I think he's going
08:26to fall off a little bit. Uh, but B, I don't know how you stop doing that. So, A, I think with
08:33Santander, this gives you the opportunity, you're not rushing him back, right? This is not a, man,
08:39if you're 75%, um, your next rehab assignment is the designated hitter with the Blue Jays,
08:44because we need something. This is a, let's make sure you are really right as rain before we get
08:49back into this and, or before we get you back into this, and we can extend some rehab and really make
08:56sure that you are comfortable at the plate. And maybe while we're doing this, we were able to fix
09:00a couple of things that have been a problem with you hitting like 176 on the season. So, the first
09:05part of it is, take your time coming back, my guy. Um, but then after that, I do think that you have
09:15to, at least while he is still hot, keep George Springer as the designated hitter for this team.
09:20And I get that that means you are probably sacrificing a little bit defensively with
09:25Santander in the outfield. And I do think that you will have to have some defensive substitutions
09:32with him ready for late game situations and everything like that. But it's something we've
09:37talked about with this team before. If they go out and add a real impact piece to the lineup,
09:42there are going to be young players who are playing well, who are going to get less of an opportunity,
09:46which feels like it sucks. But I do also think that it is, it's just, it is what great organizations
09:53have the tough time of doing. It's finding playing time for everybody. And so building up that depth
09:59is not a bad thing. And so I do think that when Santander comes back, there's going to have to be
10:05more time in the outfield for him, at least initially, because of how effectively George
10:10Springer is playing as this team's designated hitter. Now, as Dan Schulman has said a number of
10:16times, these things have a way of working themselves out. So maybe by the time Santander is back,
10:21maybe there's a couple of other things that have bumped around that allow the Blue Jays to really
10:27just not have to make a decision on that thing. But I think when everybody is healthy,
10:31I still think the status quo is probably the way to go for the Toronto Blue Jays.
10:36That is going to do it for the Blue Jays talk as we get ready for a weekend set with Oakland,
10:40or sorry, not Oakland, the Athletics. So if you have, though, any other Blue Jays notes,
10:46send them in the chat. And if you're watching this after the fact, let me know in the comment section,
10:51do you agree with kind of my synopsis on a couple of things there with the Toronto Blue Jays?
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